CIRCOM Regional is a Professional Association of Regional Public Service Television in Europe.The acronym CIRCOM represents a declaration of intent, worded in French: “Cooperative Internationale de Recherche et d’Action en matière de Communication" / "International Cooperative for Research and Action on the Field of Communication", abbreviated to CIRCOM

Annual Conference 2018: Programme

Conference Live Stream

Conference Theme: Are we connected?Are we connected to our audiences the way we think we are? How can we serve their needs as a public broadcaster? How important are the cultural and language elements in that connection? How can we represent the communities living in our societies?

Meet selected experts, thinkers and observers of the media world and your pairs from regional broadcasting for a two days rich in key talks, experience sharing and inspiring topics!

Thursday, 24th May

09:30 – 10:00 a.m. Opening Culture and LanguageWord of welcome by Tone Kunst, President of CIRCOM Regional and Klaas Geert Bakker, Editor in Chief, Omrop Fryslân, The NetherlandsAfter an impression of beautiful Friesland, Tone Kunst will open the 36th Annual CIRCOM Regional Conference. Klaas Geert Bakker will welcome the delegates with a presentation about the impact of regional programmes (cultural and news) and the regional language, and their power to connect people. He will illustrate his presentation with examples from documentaries, drama series, events and news on TV and social media.

10:00 – 10:45 Questions are the New CommentsJanine Anderson (Hearken, USA) leads the session Questions are the New Comments. Janine will tell you how to really listen to your audiences and engage them as a story develops from pitch to publication. She teaches how to get original, high-performing content along with valuable data and insights.

10:45 – 11:15 Short break

11.15 – 11.45 Pro-Kremlin Trolls and Fake News as Security ThreatIn September 2014 Jessikka Aro, a Finnish journalist working for Yle, started a crowd-sourced series of stories about pro-Russia trolls, the info warriors distributing social media propaganda and influencing the Finnish people.Instantly after publishing the first piece she was targeted by an international discrediting campaign. She received responses such as a phone call with the sound of a gun firing at the other end, as well as a cell phone text message claiming to be from her father (who died 20 years earlier). Jessikka will tell her story about dealing with fake news, Russian trolls and how coordinated social media propaganda-writers are twisting and manipulating the public debate outside of Russia.

11.45 – 12.00 Fake News on Social MediaMargot Verleg, former journalist and founder of TrusttheSource, fell for a story that was fake news in 2011. Trust is an important factor with regards to the connection with audiences. So offering fake news can undermine the relationship with your public. It causes a great amount of damage when people accuse you of spreading fake news or when you fall for fake news. Verleg will show examples that are very tricky to recognize and she will also offer ways of recognizing fake news, for instance by using a special app she developed.

12:00 – 12:30 Session with the Prix CIRCOM WinnersCaroline Ní Dhubhchóin, TG4, Ireland, member of the Prix 2018 jury, will present two winners and a commended of the Prix CIRCOM 2018, who will explain how they use social media to add strength to the impact of their award-winning programmes. The panellists are: Signe Kjær Lindboe (TV2 Fyn, Denmark – Winner, category News Stories For All); Jenny Widell (SVT Ost, Sweden – Winner, category Minorities in Society) and Claus Halbe-Piter (Omrop Fryslan, The Netherlands – Commended, category Entertainment and Drama). For those who want to see the programmes, there is a Teletheque for private viewing of all Prix CIRCOM 2018 entries, whole day Thursday and Friday.

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 14:15 Instagram for Dummies and ManagersInstagram offers many opportunities to tell our stories. Do you know all the tips and tricks? Elkana Everhardus, online journalist at Omroep Gelderland, The Netherlands, will teach you in 10 minutes how to improve your stories and after this session we can all share our impression of the CIRCOM Conference and connect to our fellow participants and our colleagues at home.

14:15 – 15:00 Social Media Projects by Regional BroadcastersAnthony Browne (Digital Lead, BBC Scotland) is one of the creators of BBC The Social, a digital content stream featuring content for and created by young people in Scotland. BBC The Social is commissioning young talents in Scotland to make social media content which they post on The Social's social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. In 2017, RTBF launched the first fiction on Snapchat: PLS, the story of a young student and his friends during the first year of college. The idea was to engage a young audience (15-25) on a platform they are familiar with. Following the success of the first season, 20 new episodes are in production and will be available this Summer. François Jadoulle (project manager RTBF) will present the project and share five secret ingredients needed for public broadcasters to succeed with a Snapchat project.How to transfer the local interaction from Facebook to a platform of SVT? This is a question Johan Everljung (Head of SVT Digital Local News and Minorities) will answer. In March 2018 SVT Local News launched a pilot project Talk With Us. Based on the Scribble Live tool, they are now trying to create a direct dialogue through visible presence online and in broadcast, trying to change the traditions and heritage of the one-way communication in broadcasting.

15:00 – 15:30 Short break

15:30 – 16:30 Events, the Culture of the RegionFriesland has a long and strong tradition of cultural events. Omrôp Fryslân reports on these events in several ways, including live reports on radio and TV, but also via Facebook live and other social media. These programmes are highly popular and offer a lot of opportunities for the audience to participate. Jacqueline Spendel will talk about two small Omrop Fryslân projects through wich she found a new way of connecting with the audience. Both projects are parts of bigger events of Leeuwarden-Fryslân Cultural Capital of Europe 2018.Besides Omrop Fryslân(The Netherlands), TPA Asturias (Spain) and Omroep Gelderland (The Netherlands) will show their examples of appealing events as part of their regional culture as well as the relevance for regional broadcasters.

Friday, 25th May

09:30 – 10:15 New Media Landscape and Roles in Transition: Public Service, Commercial Media and Social NetworksWe are witnessing a massive change in the media, affecting not only the media landscape, but also distribution and consumer behaviour. What will be the role of various media players and especially that of social media platforms? Is this an opportunity or a moment of great threat to public services? Lauri Kivinen, CEO of Yle, shares his personal perspective.

10:15 – 10.45 A Journalist’s Guide to the Smartphone GalaxyBjörn Stasschen (NDR/ARD) and Wytse Vellinga (Omrop Fryslân) will offer a quick look in the bag of Mojo reporters, with the newest equipment, for reporting, filming, storytelling, live broadcasting and 360 degrees filming.

10:45 – 11:15 Short break

11:15 – 11:45 MojoMojo is here to stay. Mattias Sandberg proves it with his Mojo reports. He works for SVT Sport covering, with the use of his mobile phone, big sport events: the World Championships in Orienteering, The Open Championships in Golf and the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. The latter with his mobile phone and a small camera. Are you in any doubt that Mojo can be used to cover sports events? You won’t be anymore after Mattias' presentation!BNT reporters successfully contribute to the news content with live broadcasts and by sending video material from all over the World. Alexander Markov and Peter Georgiev will present some examples - such as a story about the lack of qualified drivers in transport sector BNT broadcasted live from a truck on the road - from the perspective of a journalist and that of a producer.

11:45 – 12:30 New Formats for StorytellingGuillaume Kuster trains students and professionals in Mojo and Storytelling all over the world. He will open this session presenting the new formats used by TV stations to shift from a linear television model to an all-platforms media organization. After Guillaume's presentation, the trainees of the CIRCOM workshop New Formats for Storytelling will present their examples of new formats. They will show the items they have produced for Snapchat, Instagram and other media at the workshop led prior to the conference.

12.30– 12:45 Meet the Grand Prix 2018 WinnerThe winner of the Grand Prix is still a mystery. But on Friday, the day after the Award Ceremony, David Lowen will interview the winner of the Grand Prix, so we can learn more about him, her or them.

13:00 – 14:00 LunchDuring lunch: a meeting of the board with the Federation of Dutch Editors in Chief

14:00 – 17:00 Cultural tripsChoose between 3 trips, all trips will start and end at the conference hall of the Theater The Harmonie, Leeuwarden

TRIP 1:Where can you find 11 fountains created by 11 internationally known artists? In the eleven Frisian cities! Modern art and cultural heritage. Water, Nature and Culture. Brimming with stories. Discover the secrets of Fryslân! This trip takes you on a nice tour through Fryslân to most of the fountains.

TRIP 2:Discover the solar system. Suspended from the ceiling of the living room of a beautiful canal house in Franeker, you will find the oldest still working planetarium of the world. This accurately moving model of the solar system was built between 1774 and 1781 by Frisian wool comber, Eise Eisinga. You will also see two of the 11 fountains and have time to walk through Franeker, one of the 11 cities of Fryslân.

TRIP 3:Combining history and theatre. Discover Leeuwarden with tour guide William Louis of Nassau. Meet Mata Hari and Escher. Visit the tomb of the Dutch royal family and at the end of the tour you will visit the Escher exhibition in the Fries Museum.